Microelectronic chip packages use flip chip technology to mount chips onto a chip carrier substrate to provide high density interconnect of chips or space transformation to enable mounting of the ICs (integrated circuits) onto printed circuit boards. System performance and cost requirements for chip packaging are driving designers to use low cost organic chip carriers in place of more expensive ceramic or glass materials. However, a challenge is the mismatch between the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) between organic chip carriers and silicon integrated circuit chips. This causes mechanical stress between the components during operation from environmental temperature excursion and also heat produced by the chips which results in temperature variations in the chip package structure.
Solutions to using organic chip carriers have included epoxy under fill between the chip and first level package to reduce the shear stain on the Controlled Collapse Chip Connection (C4) interconnects. In addition solutions have also been previously proposed to build compliant interconnects. Therefore a need exists to produce low cost compliant interconnects.
In addition, the development of very high density silicon chip carriers have been proposed as an intermediate interposer between IC's and the next level package to provide very high interconnect density and CTE match to the silicon chips. This will reduce the thermal induced stress on the C4 solder interconnects between the silicon chip and CTE matched silicon chip carrier and enable the reduction in C4 dimensions and increased I/O density. However, in the case where the next level package is an organic substrate the CTE of the silicon chip carrier will not be matched to the organic substrate which will result in stress on the C4 solder interconnects between carrier and next level package. Therefore, there exists a need to provide compliance between a silicon chip carrier and the next level package.